CLASS 7A Boys

Peaking NLR lives up to its top billing

North Little Rock live up to its No. 1 seed for a second night in a row.

Junior Collin Moore scored 16 points and sophomore Moses Moody added 14 as the top-seeded Charging Wildcats crushed Springdale Har-Ber 73-39 in Saturday's Class 7A state tournament semifinals at North Little Rock High School's arena.

The victory sets up a rematch of last season's state championship game with 7A-Central Conference rival Fort Smith Northside. The date and time of the title game will be determined today.

A day after a rolling to a 66-41 quarterfinal victory over Bentonville West, the Charging Wildcats ran off to an early advantage on Har-Ber, hitting four three-pointers in the first quarter that led to an eventual 22-7 advantage.

"If you're asking if I was expecting that, no, I wasn't expecting that," North Little Rock Coach Johnny Rice said. "If you look at our last three games ... we've been locked in mentally, especially on the defensive end."

Four North Little Rock players scored 11 or more points. Moore led the 'Cats with 16 points, Moody added 14, sophomore Otis Jordan had 12 and senior Ray Fresh scored 11. Defensively, the Charging Wildcats allowed junior sharp-shooter Tylor Perry to collect 20 points, but no other Har-Ber player managed more than six.

Tyler Garrett gave Har-Ber (23-7) a 3-2 advantage with a three-pointer, but North Little Rock (26-5) responded by scoring 20 of the next 22 points.

"We just couldn't match that level of intensity," Har-Ber Coach Scott Bowlin said. "They managed to maintain that intensity for the entire game while we were very up and down with it."

Perry, who was held scoreless in the first quarter, connected on 3 three-pointers in the second quarter as Har-Ber clawed back to as close as 25-17 with 4:46 left before halftime. But a three-pointer by Jordan and steal by Moody, which led to an intentional foul, stopped any momentum Har-Ber was gaining.

"We had a little lull, but it wasn't bad," Rice said. "It's great to get off to good starts like that. It was a big boost."

North Little Rock outscored Har-Ber 23-9 in the third quarter with Perry collecting all nine of Har-Ber's points.

"Decorey [Watkins] did a great job defending [Perry]. Otis Jordan got to go against him a few times. They're good defenders," Rice said. "We wanted to make him earn his points. We know he's going to get his, but we didn't want to make it easy for him."

"He's that type of guy," Bowlin said of Perry. "He can put points on the board. You just have to give North Little Rock credit. They play at a high level, and we play at a high level at times."

FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE 78, FAYETTEVILLE 54

Fort Smith Northside (21-9) scored 23 unanswered points — 12 by Javion Releford — during a span of slightly more than four minutes, and the Grizzlies will return to Hot Springs to defend their Class 7A state tournament title after defeating Fayetteville.

Releford, a junior guard, hit 3 consecutive three-pointers at one point and finished with four during Northside’s early run. His last one came from well beyond the arc with 2:54 left in the first quarter and made it a 21-2 game, then Kentrell Jacobs hit back-to-back buckets to complete the 25-point outburst.

Fayetteville (19-9) didn’t help its cause in the early stages. The Bulldogs had a flurry of missed shots and turnovers before Collin Cooper ended the run when he scored with 1:33 left in the first quarter, almost five minutes after Fayetteville’s first basket.

Isaiah Joe finished with a team-high 24 points for Northside, including a dunk that gave the Grizzlies their biggest lead, 34-5, early in the second quarter. Frank Morgan had 13 and Cooper scored 11 to pace Fayetteville.

Sports on 03/04/2018

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